Six Palestinian students injured amid clashes with Israeli forces in West Bank

SHAFAQNA – At least six Palestinian students have sustained gunshot wounds after clashes broke out between a group of young Palestinian protesters and Israeli military forces in the central part of the occupied West Bank.

Local sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Israeli forces stormed the School Street near the Al-Quds University campus in Abu Dis town on Thursday morning, firing rubber-coated steel bullets and teargas canisters at stone-throwing students, Arabic-language Palestine al-Yawm news agency reported.

The sources added that six students were struck with bullets, while 18 others suffered excessive tear gas inhalation during the mayhem.

Medics from the Palestine Red Crescent Society rushed to the site and offered essential treatment to all wounded students, with no need to hospitalize any of them.

Al-Quds University and other Palestinian educational centers were raided several times last year.

Israeli forces destroyed the buildings’ properties, and confiscated their equipment and documents during the raids. Scores of students were also injured in ensuing skirmishes.

The occupied Palestinian territories have witnessed new tensions ever since Israeli forces introduced restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem al-Quds in August 2015.

Some 300 Palestinians have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces in the tensions since the beginning of October 2015.

The Tel Aviv regime has tried to change the demographic makeup of Jerusalem al-Quds over the past decades by constructing illegal settlements, destroying historical sites and expelling the local Palestinian population. Palestinians say the Israeli measures are aimed at paving the way for the Judaization of the city.

The al-Aqsa Mosque compound is a flashpoint Islamic site, which is also holy to the Jews. The mosque is Islam’s third holiest site after Mecca and Medina in Saudi Arabia.